BEHAVIOR OF IN0.48GA0.52P (AL0.2GA0.8)(0.52)IN0.48P QUANTUM-WELL LUMINESCENCE AS A FUNCTION OF TEMPERATURE/

The photoluminescence (PL) of an In0.48Ga0.52P/(Al0.2Ga0.8)(0.52)In0.4 8P multiple-quantum-well sample composed of wells of various widths ha s been measured as a function of temperature. The presence of LO-phono n replicas at low temperature for the largest well indicates that the PL is dominated by localized excitons. This is further confirmed by th e variation of the PL peak energies and PL linewidths as the temperatu re is increased above 4,2 K. The temperature dependence of the integra ted PL intensities shows that the major loss mechanism is thermal acti vation of electron-hole pairs out of the wells followed by nonradiativ e recombination in the barriers. The experimental data substantiate th e proposition that the poor thermal characteristics of visible lasers is caused by carrier leakage out of relatively shallow wells.